Sonifex Software

Courier Portable Recorder (Please note that this product is no longer available - the following information is available for historic reference)

Already in use around the world by major broadcasters, freelance journalists and sound recordists, Courier is one of the most versatile portable recorders on the market. Widely recognised as a groundbreaking product, Courier has been awarded the Millennium Product accolade by the British Design Council in recognition of the advanced nature of its technological innovation and for the imaginative techniques used in its design and development. The Courier has been designed with total ease of use in mind with careful thought going into the layout of the controls. For sheer flexibility and adaptability the Courier is hard to beat and it’s easy to see why :

At only 1.5kg including media and battery it won't weigh you down.

Records in most broadcast formats, including linear .wav and mpeg layer 2, providing instant compatibility with most studio editing and broadcast systems.

Uses PCMCIA hard disks or flashcards.

No need for audio dubbing - plug the PCMCIA card into your PC and play out directly.

Built-in, sophisticated, easy to use editing functions.

No need to race back to the studio if you’re in a remote location. To file reports, connect Courier to a modem or directly to your GSM mobile phone.

Carry out live reports with the optional ISDN version or with the CO-TBU telephone balance unit.

Uses widely available rechargeable camcorder batteries, or optional AA cells, which can even be changed whilst recording.

Portable Power With Hot-Swap Batteries

The days when you had to worry about your recorder failing in the middle of interview are over ! Courier's audible bleep reminds you when to change the widely available rechargeable camcorder battery, or the optional caddy with AA cells. The internal rechargeable battery will give over 1 minute of hot-swap time during which you can change the main battery.

An optional cigar lighter adaptor an provides power in the car and will recharge the Courier's batteries whilst on your way to the next crucial assignment. The integral international mains travel adaptor pack will also ensure that you can operate and charge your Courier from anywhere in the world.

Control At Your Fingertips

All the controls for Courier are designed for your ease of use. Large, readily identifiable keys have been used with added benefits such as 'feel in the dark' operation and accidental switch-off prevention. A confidence monitor confirms that your recording is safe and a backlit LCD display gives you vital information on the recording levels, battery and disk time remaining.

A software controlled limiter can be switched in together with a high pass filter for use in noisy surroundings and there are "over level" LEDs for an instant visual check on recording levels. All of this enables you to concentrate on your job not your recorder.

Record in Style with no more audio dubbing

Take advantage of Courier's superior versatility by defining 'Record Styles' to make your report perfectly compatible with the majority of editing and broadcast playout systems. Simply define parameters such as sample rate, file format, compression used and whether mono or stereo, then give your recording style a name such as 'Radio' or 'CD'.

Up to 20 personalised Record Styles can be configured into the Courier. Once you've selected your chosen Record Style and finished recording, plug the PCMCIA disk or flashcard straight into your editing or playout system for instant editing or playback. No need for audio dubbing - what could be simpler?

Why Rush If You Don't Have To?

There's no need for you to waste time hurrying back to base in order to edit and transmit your report. Stay right where you are!
Courier has sophisticated non-destructive accurate editing capabilities. By using the jog shuttle wheel, and watching the waveform on the graphical display, you can place multiple marks, and perform complex editing simply. A playlist can be compiled by taking pieces from any number of cuts, which can be saved in a number of different formats.

Easier still, once you've finished your report, simply connect Courier to a modem and sit back and relax as it sends your report as data down the phone line.

Courier can even send your report over the digital phone network by directly connecting a GSM mobile phone. All of which saves you valuable time and effort.

When Only Live Audio Will Do!

Provide your listeners with all the excitement of live commentary. Connect up the purposely-designed CO-TBU telephone balance unit and you're ready to broadcast down a telephone line, either by using the mic/line inputs or by playing pre-recorded cuts.

Now with USB Connection

The Courier has been enhanced with a USB connection so that fast downloads to the PC can be made. The USB port works in addition to the RS232 serial port and the optional ISDN connection.

The new version of Courier has a USB B connector supporting USB 1.1 which has a theoretical data rate of 12Mbps. In practise, due to a Windows overhead, Courier USB data transfers have been carried out at 4Mbps which enables downloads to the PC of up to 60 times real-time speed (for ISDN based recordings at 64kbps). Supplied with the new Courier is software to enable connection to Windows Explorer in MS-Windows 98TM and MS-Windows 2000TM. Once the Courier is connected via USB, the Courier hard-disk (or flashcard) looks like another hard-disk on the connected PC system, from which audio files can be transferred, copied and deleted.

The USB connection allows the flashcard or hard-disk used for recording to be permanently stored in the Courier without the need for removal. Files can be quickly downloaded to a PC by USB, the disk wiped and recording started again in a fraction of the time normally needed.

3rd Party Software

Recordings made using the Courier can be downloaded to a PC and then edited using third-party software. Sonifex is not responsible for the content of external websites, nor for the compatability and operation of third-party software.

Wit & Wisdom

"If you're more interested in what you're saying than the person listening to you is, you're the definition of a boring person".

David Foster Wallace,
quoted in The Guardian

"It's my belief we developed language because of our deep inner need to complain".

Lily Tomlin,
quoted on Parade.com

"My friends tell me I have an intimacy problem. But they don't really know me".

Comedian Garry Shandling,
quoted in The New York Times

"The most dangerous worldview is the worldview of those who have not viewed the world".

Alexander von Humboldt,
quoted in The Guardian

"Don't talk unless you can improve the silence".

Jorge Luis Borges,
quoted in The Economist

"School was probably a lot easier for Shakespeare because they didn't have to study Shakespeare".

Philomena Cunk,
quoted from BBC Two's Cunk on Shakespeare

"Live every day like it's your last, and one day you'll be right".

A line from the Woody Allen movie, Café Society,
quoted in The Daily Telegraph

"I prefer people who rock the boat to people who jump out".

Orson Wells,
quoted in GQ Magazine

"Like all great travellers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen".

Disraeli,
quoted in Condé Nast Traveller

"I've conducted more orchestras than you can shake a stick at".

Mike Batt,
Composer, quoted in The Times

"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies".

Groucho Marx,
quoted on Politico.com

"My problem lies in reconciling my gross habits with my net income".

Errol Flynn,
quoted in The Times

"It is now proved beyond doubt that smoking is one of the leading causes of statistics".

Fletcher Knebel, Author,
quoted in the Montreal Gazette

"Television is a device that permits people who haven't anything to do to watch people who can't do anything".

Fred Allen, Comedian,
quoted in the Associated Press

"When you are done changing, you're done".

Benjamin Franklin,
quoted in the Billings Gazette, Montana

"The wheel is turning but the hamster is dead".

Australian insult,
quoted in The Guardian

"There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, nobody knows what they are".

W. Somerset Maugham,
quoted in the Minneapolis Star Tribune

"Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies".

Nelson Mandela,
quoted in The Times

"Politics is just the art of making the inevitable seem planned".

Quentin Crisp,
quoted in The Daily Telegraph

"Possessions are generally diminished by possession".

Nietzche,
quoted in The Independent

"The luxury of doing good surpasses every other personal enjoyment".

Playwright John Gay,
quoted in The Financial Times

"I could pull the plug. But would the water leave the bath?"

Unnamed Cabinet minister, when urged to provoke a leadership crisis by resigning,
quoted in The Times

"There's a strange thing goes on inside a bubble. People inside it can't see outside, don't believe there is an outside".

Lucy Prebble,
quoted in The Independent

"They say it is better to be poor and happy than rich and miserable, but how about a compromise like moderately rich and just moody?".

Princess Diana,
quoted in The Adelaide Advertiser

"A good listener is a good talker with a sore throat".

Katharine Whitehorn,
quoted in Canada's Waterloo Region Record

"If anyone breaks a window you can answer to her".

Prince William, warning players about the Queen before a football match at Buckingham Palace,
quoted in Business Times

"Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory".

Franklin Pierce Adams, American writer,
quoted in The Independent

"As a child I thought I hated everybody, but when I grew up I realised it was just children I didn't like".

Philip Larkin,
quoted in The Spectator

"There's many a bestseller that could have been prevented by a good teacher ".

Flannery O'Connor,
quoted in Forbes

"Men hate those to whom they have to lie".

Victor Hugo,
quoted in The Nation

"Taking stupid risks is what makes life worth living".

Homer Simpson,
quoted in The Sunday Times

"One thing that annoys me is if people say I'm arrogant. But I am a legend. It's not arrogant. It's a fact.".

Usain Bolt, the Olympic and World champion sprinter,
quoted in Business Times

"He told me his career had gone as far as it could and he was planning on opening a little tobacconist's shop".

Barry Cryer, the comic, remembering when Sir Bruce Forsyth was ready to quit showbiz 50 years ago,
quoted in Business Times

"In theory, theory and practice are much the same. In practice, they are not".

Albert Einstein,
quoted in The Washington Post

"Cash can't bring you happiness, but it comes attached to a better class of problem ".

Woody Allen,
quoted in The Daily Telegraph

"I won't lie to you, fatherhood isn't easy like motherhood ".

Homer Simpson,
quoted in the Daily Express

"Never go to bed angry. Stay up and plot your revenge ".

Bumper sticker,
quoted in The Advertiser

"Most human beings are quite likeable if you don't see too much of them ".

R.W. Lynd,
quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle

"If people did not sometimes do silly things, nothing intelligent would ever get done ".

Ludwig Wittgenstein,
quoted in The Buffalo News

"Invest in a business that even a fool can run, because some day a fool will ".